'Sleepy Hollow,' 'Dome' find big audiences

Tuesday

Sep 17, 2013 at 1:02 PM

It was a good night for locally filmed television Monday

By Hunter IngramHunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com

It was a good night for locally filmed television Monday. Both the series premiere of Fox's "Sleepy Hollow" and the season finale of CBS' "Under the Dome" aired to large national audiences. "Sleepy Hollow," a present day re-imagining of the classic Washington Irving story, turned more than a few heads, premiering its pilot episode at 9 p.m. to 10.1 million viewers. In the key 18-49 age demographic, which networks and advertisers rely heavily on to gauge a show's success, the supernatural series garnered a strong 3.5 rating, which trumps several prominent Fox premieres, including January's hit "The Following" and Steven Spielberg's "Terra Nova," which aired in the same timeslot two years ago.Additionally, the premiere was the highest-rated new drama series debut since last September's premiere of NBC's "Revolution," another locally filmed series. Fox said Tuesday "Sleepy Hollow" was its best fall drama premiere in seven years.This is great news for the trippy "Sleepy Hollow," which has been met with mostly positive critical reception ahead of its premiere, with many critics saying its outlandish plot makes for a fun ride.Fox wasn't the only network met with good news Tuesday morning. CBS' "Under the Dome," the most watched scripted show of the summer, ended its first season at 10 p.m. with a sizable audience of 11.8 million (2.8 share), its largest since the show premiered June 24. Monday also marked a 33 percent surge over last week's tennis-delayed penultimate episode.Fans of the series gathered to celebrate the finale at the downtown pub Hell's Kitchen Monday night. Carol Hawbaker, who brought along a homemade sign, was not shy in expressing her admiration for the series. "It's the best program all summer," Hawbaker said. "I've been on it, in crowd scenes, and the best thing is knowing what is going to happen. But I'm not telling.""Under the Dome" expects to begin shooting its second season in the Wilmingotn area early next year for a summer 2014 premiere.The episode of "Sleepy Hollow" that aired Monday was filmed in Salisbury before production on the series moved to Wilmington in late July. Monday's episode will be rebroadcast 9 p.m. Friday on Fox.